From the Frying Pan into the Fire

This article is definitely meant for a scholarly person. It is well written and flows, which makes it accessible to everyone, but certainly succeeds in building a clear argument. The author begins by analyzing an Oatmeal ad, and builds off her initial analysis of seeing the people and concepts in the ad as symbolic of "family values," efficiency," etc. to examine how our Western society has evolved to worship capitalism as a religion of sorts. The author uses other theorists (Cox, etc.) to make her argument stronger. Interestingly, the author cites women's movement into the workforce as, although beneficial in many aspects, a great contributor to the decrease in value on family time. I found her historical accounts to be not only fascinating, but fun to read. Overall, I think that this was one of the best written and most thought provoking articles I read for this class.  

I cannot help but mention my discomfort with the author's dismissal of "teaching a few piano lessons" as not being "all-absorbing." Though this brief comment was not largely integral to the article, I feel that it revealed something about the author--either that the author is pointing the occupation of being a teacher out as "feminine" or simply being judgmental, something that I found surprising considering the subject of the article. Regardless, after being drawn in for the first page, the comment caused me to lose faith in the author's persuasiveness, and I began to question throughout the rest of the reading what she was presenting. - K.D.

In "The Commercialization of Intimate Life--From the Frying Pan into the Fire," Hochschild questions the differences between the work life in '69 to the work life in '96.   She questions, "Are women jumping from the frying pan of patriarchy into the fire of capitalism?"   He says that capitalism has become the sole driving force of our society and every family structure within it.   She argues that spending money and long hours at work, instead of spending time together, has become how more and more people say "I love you" at home. - K.G.